Labels

Webb wants World Cup swansong at Maracana

Howard Webb wants to end his World Cup refereeing career on a high at the 2014 tournament in Brazil. He was in charge of the controversial 2010 World Cup final in South Africa, when he showed a record 15 cards, but that has not put him off taking charge of matches in another tournament. Brazil would be the last chance for the 41-year-old Yorkshire official to go to another World Cup - the FIFA age limit is 45 - and he admits he would love the opportunity to referee a game at Rio de Janeiro’s famous Maracana stadium.

Webb said: “The World Cup is where you want to be. A World Cup in Brazil will be pretty special and if you are performing in high-level sport in whatever capacity you want to be at the big events. It would be my last World Cup, it was wonderful to do the final in 2010 but I would like to be involved in 2014 as well. I went to Brazil last year and took charge of the Masters beach football final on the Copacabana which whetted my appetite. We had a look around the Maracana and that is one of the great cathedrals of world football. I have been lucky enough to go to all the major ones in Europe so to get to one of the greatest venues in football would be really something.” Howard Webb is on the FIFA list of 52 referees who will be whittled down to around 30 for the tournament. Mark Clattenburg is the only other English referee on the list plus another 16 officials from Europe, and around 10 slots are expected to go to Europeans. Webb added: “I am under no illusions about the quality of the competition, including Mark. I'm lucky that I have been involved in seven tournaments in my career, including the World Cup and two European Championships which have been the major ones. I have enjoyed those experiences and I have until I am 45 to try to achieve them again.” Webb admits there is little or no chance of him being chosen to referee the World Cup final again. He said: “I would say it is extremely unlikely bearing in mind there are something like two million referees around the world and there have only been 19 of them who have refereed World Cup finals. I would just love to be involved in any game there.” He has also been involved with FIFA this year promoting their campaign for better practices to deal with players suffering heart attacks. He was the man in charge when Fabrice Muamba collapsed in March and last week he presented a defibrillator donated by Rotherham company Martek Medical to local school Oakwood. Webb said: “I understand there cannot be a defibrillator at every location but the more there are the better, particularly at communal pitches where there are lots of games taking place.”